I need some operational suggestions for recording the sound of birds in the woods, with the least amount of hiss.; and, more importantly, without spending a HUGE amount of money. (*obviously the quick answer would be for me to buy one of the incredible Sound Devices 700 series recorders, but right now I don't have that kind of play money.....YET!)

My equipment is: (1) Handy 4N Zoom recorder (2) I alternate between the following mics: (2A) Samson CO2 stereo mics (2B) Rode NTG-2 shotgun mic.In addition to using the above-mentioned microphones by themselves, I will ALSO use them on my parabolic mic set-up that I have.I almost always use bit rates of 48HZ and 96HZ.

The recordings are good, BUT, they do have HISS in them, which, I can eq it out on my Adobe Audition software.

BUT, I would still prefer to get as clean a field recording in the first place.

I have been experimenting with my input/record levels. For example if I record a wood thrush with my parabolic using a fairly low level - say 70 on a scale of 100 -- I do cut down on the hiss, but of course at the same time I need to boost the level in the editing suite; when I crank up the record level of course I get more hiss, BUT at the same my target sound is louder as well.

I also have been reading blogs suggesting that my Zoom recorder has a noisy preamp that I can modify to make it quieter, but, since I am not that technical, that it not an option.

SO....what should I do ? (1) Record using a low volume and just live with boosting it in my edit suite ? (2) Record using a high volume and eqing out the hiss in my edit suite ? (3) buy a different mic??

Thanks very much in advance for any suggestions you can give.

P.S. This past May I received my Master's Degree in Media Studies after producing a sound-rich 15 minute audio nature documentary....even though I have my degree, I want to continue recording and learning and taking my recording to the next level.....without spending 7-thousand dollars on a cool Sound Devices recorder!)